


Seclusion

by IndigoWolf



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Isolation, Loneliness, Magic, Original Character(s), Pegasus - Freeform, alicorn, seclusion, self doubt, unicorn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-10-30 01:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10866459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoWolf/pseuds/IndigoWolf
Summary: She lived her entire life in the Everfree Forest and never saw anypony else until Nightmare Moon was freed from her prison in the sky. Can she live in a world full of ponies she'd never seen before?





	1. Garden in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> I do not and will not update at any regular pattern. If I do update, it will be whenever I remember this story exists, and that may be rather sporadically.
> 
> Terms may differ from officially used terminology, as I wrote this mostly without looking up landmarks and names of places. As time progresses in the fic, things are fixed naming and titling wise, but earlier chapters may not have the names you expect from the show. Assume that it's because the main character doesn't know the proper terms for things. That's what I do.
> 
> Update on Notes: I just found the actual written story, I have 14 chapters written, and only the 3 that are uploaded typed. I need to type up more of the story to update again. I doubt anyone is reading this, but either way.
> 
> Also, this was written to deal with my own sense of isolation, and may end up getting more written into it after I move into isolation again.

She knew she was not alone in the world, but she had never seen anyone else. Then again, she also never left her garden in the woods. She loved her garden, and the plants within loved her as much. She could tell their feelings as if it were her own feelings. She always had a connection with plants, even as a child. It could have something to do with never knowing her parents, or even knowing where she came from. Or it could be that her earliest memories were of being left alone in the dark woods by an unknown entity.

The elder tree at the center of the garden taught her what she needed to know. The Elder, as it preferred being referred to, taught her to not only speak to all manner of plant life, but to speak to other inhabitants of the world her garden existed in.

Not that she has ever seen anyone else before. She only knew she was not alone because the Elder told her there were others outside of the dark woods.

She is an alicorn; a pony that is a compilation of the three pony types inhabiting Equestria. She has a unicorn’s horn and magic, Pegasus wings that allow her to fly, and Earth pony strength that allows her to run around her garden. She learned about these ponies in the same way that she learned about anything: The Elder taught her.

The Elder Tree; the only parental figure she has ever known, her teacher, and her oldest friend. He, for the Elder represented a male persona, was the one that found her as a filly. He told her the story of how he found her often or whenever she asked it of him.

Neither of them knew if she was alone or following someone else when the Elder found her. She was curled up at the base of a tree at the edge of what is now her garden. He gathered her up in his boughs and hid her from the evil of the woods around them, keeping her safe from predators that would harm her.

To this day, she has a place of refuge hidden away in his many branches. He is a willow tree after all; the oldest in the forest and the only tree that remained untouched by the surrounding darkness. It was being raised by this Ancient Willow tree that she discovered her talents in helping plants grow pure in the heart of the Everfree Forest.

She does not so much as just talk to the plants around her, as it is more often likely that she will use magic to help something grow. Under her guidance, a natural spring was brought up from under the surface of the earth and flowed through the clearing and out of the woods.

When she was not tending to her friends, the plants in the garden, she was learning about the world beyond the dark woods. The Elder had root systems that reached to the outside world. These roots told him things that were happening beyond the dark trees and he passed these happenings on to the pony he rescued from the darkness.

Based on what he learned from the outside world, he knew that everypony had a name, not just a type. Because of this, she asked him what her name was, as she had no recollection of being called anything. His answer was to call her “Cryallie”. This was something he said to her often as she grew from a filly to a fine young pony. 

“Don’t cry, Alicorn.” He would say this to her in the magical way they communicated.

“I’m not crying, Elder.” was always her response, even as the tears fell from her eyes and landed on his leaves and branches. She did not cry for herself, for she had nothing she didn’t need or want. She cried for the plants beyond the borders of her garden, for they were lost to the darkness. That knowledge pained her, to hear their tortured souls cry in the night.

Over the years, she strived to bring more plants into her little garden, or to stretch the borders to encompass more of the plants lost in the darkness. Every attempt failed every time the dark forest shifted. Every time a timber wolf or some other creature made of the same dark magic that kept the forest evil, came sniffing around, she lost another plant to the darkness. 

Even the night aided in the loss of more ground in her garden.

The Everfree Forest, the dark woods, charged its evil power in the night, while the day charged the energy in her little garden. Which she always found somewhat sad, since she could relate most to the lonesome Mare in the Moon, rather than anypony she has ever learned about that roams the daytime. She could not relate to the Mare’s actions a thousand years ago, but she could almost relate to what the Mare has gone through for the thousand years since her banishment in the moon. How lonely she must have been with no pony else to talk to and only the stars to keep her company.

Cryallie was not lonely in the sense that she had her plant friends to talk to, but she still had never seen another pony with her own two eyes. And that made her a little lonely. Not that she had ever been able to tell the Elder tree about this loneliness. All it would do is to cause him to worry. She didn’t want him to worry about her.

Therefore, she learned all that he could teach her about the world during the day and looked up at the moon from the boughs of the Elder tree at night. Some nights, she would try sending a little friendship to the Mare, in hopes of getting an answer back from her.

She lived this way for many years, her entire life in her own secret little garden, from filly to pony, until that fateful morning when the sun did not rise for the day and the Mare in the Moon came out to play.


	2. Nightmare Moon

It was a normal night, as her nights tend to go. She had finished with her tasks for the day, made sure everyone of her friends in the garden were watered and ready for the night, and she’d put up the magical barrier around the garden to protect them from the evil power of the surrounding forest. Cryallie was in her favorite spot, the very center of the Elder Willow where all the branches came together at their base. That was the most comfortable place to lie in the great tree. When she was a filly, she could sleep anywhere, but she has grown a lot since then. Her wings alone needed space to move, plus her size, while not bulky, she was still bigger than a filly. Plus the horn on her head wasn’t just a little stub on her forehead anymore. She had poked a few holes in the branches of the willow before she found the best place to sleep.

Like every other night since Elder told her the story of the Mare in the Moon, she turned to look up through the darkness, her eyes and thoughts aimed at the heavens.

~Oh Mare, how I wish I knew your true pony name.~ She could not remember if the Elder had ever told her the Mare’s real name or not. ~Your sky is beautiful tonight, Mare. Must be a wondrous sight to look down on us from up there.~

The Elder shifted around below her, as he often did when she spoke to the Mare. “Child, she cannot hear you. She is still filled with anger. Little else gets in to the pony she once was.”

“I know, Elder. I can’t help but think she just needs a friend though. Someone who enjoys the beautiful night that she has created. I just wish the forest didn’t get its charge from her beautiful nights.” The exchange was not a nightly occurrence, but it happened often enough that it was familiar to them both.

“Child, look up. Something is not right this night! Those four stars around the moon, they move! Do you see them?” He had not needed to point out what she saw, but that was his way, always the teacher.

“Elder, what does it mean? Are the stories true? Is she breaking free of her prison in the moon?” Cryallie honestly couldn’t separate the fear, worry, and excitement she felt at the thought of Nightmare Moon being freed from her ancient prison. She knew what it would mean, but she also knew that with the mare out of the moon, she might get that childhood wish to meet the only pony she ever felt closest to.

“I do not know, child. The legend says that on the one thousandth year of her imprisonment, the Mare will break free of her prison with the help of the stars above.” His boughs shook and shivered in the night air. It was not that he was cold, as she had never known him to get cold, but he did this when he was not sure of what was going to happen. “I was but a sapling when the Mare was imprisoned and this forest was cast into the darkness that consumes it to this day.”

“Elder, I didn’t know you were around then. What will happen if the world is cast in darkness?” She turned her eyes from the heavens and looked around her garden of friends. She also checked her barrier before she returned her eyes skyward once more.

“You already know the answer to that, child.” His voice was low and sad. He was right though, she did know the answer to her question already.

“Yes, I suppose I do… The barrier will collapse and the darkness will invade our garden.” She shut her eyes as though that would stop the images that her imagination brought forth. “But Elder, what will happen to you? If the darkness takes our garden, what will happen to you?”

“I grew up in the darkness of this forest child, it cannot hurt me.” The sad tone in his voice grew as the stars closed in around the moon above. “Child…” His voice broke, “you must do exactly as I say…”

“Elder, what’s wrong? Why are you crying? You’re scaring me…” She did not get the chance to say more than that before he cut her off with his urgent words.

“Cryallie, listen to me! The sun will not rise this coming day. Look above, child. The legends are true. The Mare is breaking out of her prison and she is still angry with her sister. That anger will blind her to anything else until she’s free of it.” The urgency of his words caused her attention to move back to the great willow below her. “You must run, child. Run free of this dark forest. You must run until its light again and you are safe. And you must not return.”

“Elder, no! I couldn’t leave you here alone. We will fight the darkness as we do every day and night. It can’t last forever, right?” She could not imagine a world without her Elder tree in it.

“No, I don’t believe it will last forever, child.” His tone wasn’t urgent anymore, but it was sad again. “But this is the return of Nightmare Moon. The Everfree forest is going to get a massive power boost from her dark energy. That power will overwhelm your barrier and our little garden of light. That is why you must run before it happens.”

“But Elder, what will happen to you? You have been in the light for so long, wouldn’t the dark hurt you? I don’t want to leave you to face it alone.” She wasn’t just upset that he was telling her to run away, she was having mixed feelings about the Mare’s return, and that angered and upset her as well. “I can’t leave you…”

“You must, child. I cannot watch you fall to the darkness. You must run before the forest consumes the garden.” He hugged her close, his many branches wrapping around her even as he lowered her to the ground.

Through her tears came a flash of magical light, the same pale green as her hide. As the light faded, she saw that her hooves were wrapped in a leafy green covering of willow vines reaching up her legs. Around her neck grew a delicate looking braided willow necklace with a wooden tree pendant. Her long tail, which normally hung in a tangled mass behind her, was braided with willow leaves and vine-like branches woven into it.

“For as long as you wear this necklace, I will always be close to your heart. I will be with you forever, regardless of what happens to you in this life or the next.” Slowly, so very slowly, his boughs withdrew from the crying pony that stood now before him. “You’ve grown into a fine young mare. Please do not cry, Alicorn. I will always be with you, as long as you want me to be. Keep this pendant close and I will follow you wherever you go.”

“Thank you, Elder. For everything, you have ever done for me. Thank you.” She pressed close to his trunk one last time, taking in her garden and burning it into her memory. The last thing she saw as she fled her secret garden was the barrier falling and her friends falling to the evil forces of the Everfree Forest.


	3. First Garden

She ran for the rest of the morning, running as fast as her hooves could carry her. Her wings were useless in the dense forest, not that she flew enough for them to be strong enough to carry her very far. So she ran.

She kept running until there were no trees around her. She ran past a town that stood outside of the forest and fled to a small meadow by a stream several miles away from where she started. Even before she had stopped running, she was gasping for breath between her sobs. She probably could have kept running had she not been crying since the left her little garden.

There were no trees in the little meadow, just some wild grass and flowers. She could feel their wonder as she dropped down in the grass, but with plants such as these, their wonder was fleeting. As was any other emotion they might feel. They almost never had any original thoughts of their own. They also tended to be her primary diet. For someone who can understand the thoughts and feelings of the plants around her, if she dwelt on them too much, she would starve. 

She felt bad for eating them initially, but that was what they were grown for in the First Garden of Life. It was a story the Elder told her when she was young. Of course, it could be just an old pony tale, but the memory made her smile all the same, even if it was just a small sad smile.

~*~

The First Ponies on this planet needed food to eat, so grass was grown and then hay followed. Flowers of various kinds were grown initially as a decoration, until they discovered the flavors the flowers gave to their grass salads.

Since the time of the First Garden and the First Ponies that inhabited it, grass had spread around the world and carried flower seeds with it. The ponies spread out as well. The First Ponies founded the three pony types. Unicorns were magic users and Earth ponies were non-magic users. These two types were charged with taking care of the earth and the gardens. Pegasus ponies were non-magic using flying ponies. They were charged with taking care of the skies above, keeping the major storms away from inhabited areas and making sure the grounds below got the rain it needed to grow.

Something broke in the world that caused the three pony types to forget where they came from, that they used to be one tribe of ponies in the Beginning. In this great breaking of the world, some massive amount of magical energy caused two things to happen simultaneously. 

The first was the most devastating: The world was no longer able to turn on its own. The planet was unable to spin to meet the new day or spin into the darkness of night. Its rotation around the sun and moon was destroyed.

The second was the creation of the Alicorn. The Alicorn was a combination pony that was part of all three pony types. They were part Earth, part Pegasus, and part unicorn. These ponies were given massive amounts of magical energy. So much magic that one Alicorn could raise the sun and moon and still have the strength to try and bring the three pony-types back together again.

While the other ponies had bred themselves around the world and into the heavens, the Alicorn ponies would never be many in number, as they were also nearly immortal. Assuming the Alicorn did not get themselves killed somehow, they could possibly live for many thousands of years to come. Something no other pony could do. Although, legend has it that if a Unicorn has discovered their true purpose, they can reach the level of Alicorn and be granted wings and Alicorn power.

Of course, she had no way of knowing how true this story was, as she had no contact with anypony else. Nevertheless, she did know that the Elder was not one to tell false stories. She just wished she knew where he had heard it from in the first place.

*~*

These were her thoughts as she lay in the tall grass by the stream in the meadow. She had stopped crying and was working on slowing her heart rate when the night faded to daylight and the sun rose overhead. 

“The Mare from the Moon has been defeated.” The voice seemed to come from beside her, but as she turned to look around, she did not see anypony there. The voice itself was unfamiliar to her, but her mind flashed on the Elder nonetheless. “Nightmare Moon was her name when she changed into her evil self. She is back to being her old self again. Her name is Princess Luna. Her evil was defeated by the magic of friendship.”

“Who’s there? Where are you?” She was up and moving around in the tall grass, trying to find the source of the voice in her ear.

“Silly child.” Again, Allie flashed on a memory of the Elder tree. “Quit jumping around like a bunny. Did you forget already that you wear the necklace around your neck?” The voice still seemed to be in her ears. Or was it coming from around her neck…?

“…Elder…?” She stood perfectly still, somewhat surprised by the idea that the Elder could be talking to her through the pendant like this. Still, she was hesitant to hope. “Is it… you?”

“Yes and no…” As she focused on the voice, Allie began to notice the feminine quality it held. This was not the voice of the Elder she knew so well. “I am to be the daughter of the willow tree you call ‘Elder’. He made me a pendant for you to carry until you find a safe place for me to grow. In my creation, he poured all his knowledge and wisdom, giving to me the ability to help you when you need it.”

Cryallie dropped back to the ground again, collapsing under the weight of guilt for having fled her garden in the forest. “Then he is dead? He fell to the darkness?”

The necklace warmed around her neck, reminding the pony of the feelings she and the great tree had for one another. “No, Allie. He lives on by the stream in the forest. He is a garden of one, but live on he does. I am here to carry on for him beyond the forest. And to be your friend and help you as you need it.”

Their discussion would have continued, had they not heard the sounds of a great celebration not far from where she stood. The noises came from the direction of the town she passed as she ran from the forest.

Using her magic and what little spells she knew, she fashioned a simple cloak of grass and leaves to cover her head and back. She wanted to go into the town and watch the other ponies have their party. She just did not want them to see her if she could help it. Who knows what kind of trouble it would cause her if they knew she was an Alicorn. She must always be a Pegasus, Unicorn, or Earth pony. Since her wings were easier to hide, she would likely play the part of a Unicorn.

Never could she be herself in front of other ponies.


	4. Sage

With her horn and wings covered, she set off on the short trek to the town with the partying ponies. As she'd never seen another pony before, she really didn't know what to expect. In fact, she'd never rally seen what she looked like, not from the neck up anyway. The stream in the garden never stood still long enough for her to see her reflection.

“So what do I call you then?” She was speaking to the pendant around her neck, trying to keep her mind from dwelling on the idea of meeting new ponies, and worrying about what that could be like.

The pendant swung slightly as she trotted toward town. “I don't know. You can't call me 'Elder', I'm younger than you.” The pendant warmed around her neck as it spoke of the Elder tree Allie left behind. “I'm sure you'll come up with a lovely name for me, Allie.”

The pony thought about it for a few minutes as she slowed to a walk. “What about Sage?” She felt somewhat confident her only friend would like this name, or at least she hoped she would.

“Hmm, given that 'sage' is in reference to a person of great wisdom, but doesn't necessarily imply one's age... Yes, I like that name, thank you Allie.” The pendant warmed around the pony's neck again, Sage's way of hugging her friend.

“Sage is also a spice.” The pony smiled as she approached the town. They both quieted their chatting as Allie crept around an outlying structure on the edge of town, and moved closer to the party.

She gasped at what she saw. Everypony was in the street. There had to be more than a hundred ponies ahead of her. In the center of the celebration stood two ponies who were different from the rest of them. They looked like older versions of what she imagined she must look like. They had huge wings, flowing hair, and a very long horn on their heads. She herself didn't have the long horn or the flowing hair, but she did have large flowing wings. Something else she didn't have was the crown on her head, but she was fine with that. It would only draw attention to her anyway. The marks on their flanks were a shining sun on the larger alicorn and a crescent moon on the other smaller alicorn.

“That's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the center there. As I said before, Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon.” Sage's whispered voice made Allie jump a little as she slowly crept toward town. “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..”

Allie double checked her leaf and grass cloak, pleased that the covering was still barely touching the ground as she moved. “Am I the only one that can hear you, Sage?” She edged ever closer to the party, still leery about actually meeting one of them.

“Yes, but that's only because you're wearing the necklace. I'm actually speaking with you mentally. Should you ever actually find a place to plant me, then anyone, even earth pony-types and pegasus ponies, can hear me speaking to them. Later I can teach you how to enhance my speaking range, if you'd like.” The pendant swayed a little around Allie's neck.

“Really? Thank you!” She didn't speak loudly, but she was still enthusiastic to learn new magic. “Can you hear me if I think to you? Or should I just keep speaking out loud?” She had stopped moving forward to speak to Sage, not really wanting to approach the party and be seen talking to herself.

~I don't know, Allie. Could Elder hear your active thoughts?~

~Yes, he could hear me whenever I sent my thoughts to the Mare in the Moon. But can you hear me now as well?~ She had felt a flash of sadness as she was reminded of the Elder she had been forced to leave behind, and it left a nearly bitter taste in the back of her throat.

~Yes. I actually hear you better now. Speaking to me like this will also strengthen your magical abilities. But for now, we should join the celebration of the sun. Maybe you'll have a chance to meet Princess Luna as well?~

Allie edged forward again, still nervous about all the ponies ahead of her. Before she had gone too much further, a bright pink pony jumped out in front of her, causing Allie to scream and run away.


End file.
